Our November Recording of the Month is a real eye-opener: three colourful works for cello and orchestra by the 20th-century Belgian composer Henriëtte Bosmans played with insight and flair by British cellist Raphael Wallfisch (CPO 555694-2).

Bosmans was born in Amsterdam in 1895 to musical parents – her father was first cellist of the Royal Concertgebouw, and her mother was a Jewish pianist. The works here were composed in 1922, 1923 and 1924 respectively and inspired by her relationship with a cellist named Marix Loevensohn who became her lover.

“Bosmans’ writing for cello is predominantly lyrical, in a post-Romantic manner. Faster movements (such as the perky Scherzo of the Concerto No. 1) have a terpsichorean touch,” writes Phillip Scott in a five-star review.

“Despite being written so closely together, the two concertos display a marked difference in tone – the First, lighter and more pastoral, and the Second, more inclined to melancholy in its musings,” continues Scott. “Wallfisch’s cello absolutely sings, his flowing, non-interventionist approach proving ideal for this repertoire. Ed Spanjaard’s conducting and...